Westman Islands

pop (2000e) 5560; area 21 km²/8 sq mi. Group of 15 islands and 30 reefs off the S coast of Iceland; includes the volcanic island of Heimaey which erupted in 1973; island of Surtsey was formed during eruptions in 1963–6; fish processing.

Vestmannaeyjar (The West-men Islands) is a small archipelago off the south coast of Iceland.

The islands are named after the Irish who were captured into slavery by the Norse Gaels.

In the year 1627 the islands were attacked by a fleet of pirates from the Barbary Coast (modern Algeria), who killed many, enslaved much of the population and took them to Algeria where most of them spent the rest of their lives in bondage.

The area is very volcanically active, like the rest of Iceland. There were two major eruptions in the 20th century: the Eldfell eruption of January 1973 which created a 700-foot-high mountain where a meadow had been, and caused the island's 5000 inhabitants to be temporarily evacuated to the mainland, and an eruption in 1963 created the new island of Surtsey.

From 1998 to 2003 the islands were home to Keiko the killer whale, star of Free Willy.

The islands are famed in Iceland for their yearly festival, "Þjóðhátíð", which attracts a large portion of the nation's youth.